BEDFORD —
Michael Brett is known for his ability to lock up a cross-face cradle.
On Saturday, his proficiency at getting out of one delivered a District 5 Class AA Dual-Meet Tournament championship for Bedford.
Brett scored two crucial reversals to win the final bout of Bedford’s 29-24 victory over Chestnut Ridge.
It was the fifth consecutive dual-meet championship for the top-seeded Bisons (15-0), and it might have been the toughest yet.
“We knew this was going to be a dogfight,” Bedford coach Brian Creps said. “This is probably the deepest District 5 duals there have ever been, so we knew coming in that we’d have to wrestle well, and we wrestled well today.”
It was a much different match than Bedford’s 59-16 rout of its county rival on Dec. 22.
“We were close,” Chestnut Ridge coach Greg Lazor said.
“A lot of tight battles out there. A couple bonus points got us and a couple of bonuses not gotten. They got us last time, but in no means did we think they were 40 or
50 points better than us, whatever it was. We put that beside us and were looking forward to the rematch, just to prove to ourselves that we were better than that night.”
The Lions (26-6) certainly were.
They could have won the school’s first district dual-meet championship if Dan Albright could have found a way to beat Brett. It looked like that just might happen when Albright scored a tying takedown in the third period, then locked up a cradle.
But for the second time in the match, Brett was able to pop his head out and score a reversal.
“His cross-face cradle really was not tight at all,” Brett said.
“He thought he had a good cross-face, but it wasn’t tight enough. I think anybody could slip right out of it.”
Brett scored a pair of nearfall points before an Albright reversal made it 8-6.
“You knew it was going to be a tight match, but Michael’s been wrestling well all year,” Creps said. “There at the end, he clamped on, got his two backpoints and that was the difference.”
Brett said he couldn’t let down his team.
“I felt lots of pressure, but my team means more to me than anything out here right now,” he said. “This was all for the team. I had to push myself until I couldn’t go any more. That’s what I did.”
Chestnut Ridge had gotten off to a solid start, as Austin Buttry pinned Robert Minnick at 220 pounds, and Luke Fochtman wrestled well in a 2-1 loss to Jacob Krupa at 285.
The Lions’ Derrick Claar scored a 9-0 major decision over Jake Warren at 106, and Trent Crouse beat Ryan Easter, who is third in the Pennsylvania Wrestling Rankings, for the second time in eight days. This time, Crouse rode Easter out in the third period for a 1-0 win.
“Unbelievable job on his part,” Lazor said of Crouse. “The little engine that could – that’s what we call him and Buttry. He works hard, busts his tail.”
Bedford cut the deficit to a single point with wins at 120 and 126. Garrett Thomas decisioned Colby Hillegass 9-4 before Toby Brett pinned Zach Etterman.
Shane Pfaunmiller’s 2-0 decision of Caleb Grimes made it
16-12 Chestnut Ridge.
Bedford took the lead for the first time with wins by Zach Dudek and Tanner Williams.
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